Grace is 19 months old. She is turning into a full person. A little person with her own opinions and ideas, an excellent memory, and a sweet silly streak.Here are some updates with Grace:
TALKING: Oh my goodness, so much talking! Grace basically has a stream of thoughts going through her head that she is starting to be able to verbalize. "Bus. Susan. Mark. Gray Bumpa (Great Grandpa). Airplane." (We recently flew to North Carolina, and from the plane, we took a bus to the rental car place with my uncle, cousins, and grandpa).
Grace likes to give directions. "Mama sit down." "Mama night night." "Close eyes!" or "Close the door" (which can mean zip up a zipper, close a drawer, close the fridge, or just close any door), "I get it".
The best part is, she can tell me what she wants and doesn't want. She says "more" and "all done" all the time. She can say the names of all her favorite foods, books, and stuffed animals, so she can ask specifically for what she wants.
Something really sweet she says is "hands", and then she grabs your hand to take you with her. It is just the sweetest to know that she wants to hold your hand and wants to you to be with her. She also has started saying "nex you", which means "come sit next to me". Because, I'll say to her, "Sure, I'll come sit next to you"! It's so sweet that I don't mind sitting on the hardwood floor in uncomfortable corners of the room, just because she said "nex you".
TEETH: I've honestly lost count of her teeth, she has so many, it seems like she has almost all her baby teeth. Although, she still consistently has teething symptoms (drooling, sucking on her hand, randomly fussy, so more teeth could be popping up any time).
We had her first dentist appointment today (7/12), and they said her teeth look great, she is ahead of schedule when it comes to # of teeth, but still has plenty more to come.
SKILLS: It seems that all her milestones now are related to talking. She can count to three (onetwothree), but I don't think she quite understands the concept of counting yet. She can turn the pages correctly in books, and say simple words to describe pictures in the books.
She is still struggling to eat with a spoon and fork, but I try to let her practice as much as possible (despite how messy it gets).
She can run, but is still figuring out how to jump.
SLEEP: Grace goes to sleep around 8 pm, has one middle of the night wakeup, and wakes up for good between 7-8 am (except when we travel! Then she sometimes stays up for hours in the middle of the night. No joke, she will be awake for 3-4 hours in the middle of the night when I travel with her).
She still has one mid-day nap daily, that can be from 1.5 - 3 hours. This middle of the day nap thing is amazing. It really refreshes me to have a rest period and then feel ready to have a good afternoon with her.SIZE: Grace is really tall. When we see other kids at the park, she's taller than almost all 2 year olds we meet (and Grace is just over a year and a half). I almost feel like I'm missing out on some baby time because she's gotten so tall so quickly and so verbal so quickly. I assumed that her height percentile would be something like 95% because she towers over all kids her age! But, the dr. recently said she's at the 75% for kids her age, which is perfect.
QUIRKS:
As Grace's personality is becoming more defined, we're noticing traits and patterns. The most common behavior I notice is: Grace likes things to be a certain way. For example, if our gate to the stairs is always closed (which it is), and one day it's left open, Grace will yell "close the door! Close the door!" because she knows it should be closed, and then, if we don't come immediately, she'll close it herself. I love how she wants doors and drawers always closed.
But, she is also particular about who can touch what. Now, most kids don't want other people touching their favorite toys. But, Grace goes a little above and beyond that. She doesn't want other people touching her favorite toys, her furniture, her books, or even her mama, or her mama's purse, or her mama's phone. Not only that, she doesn't want specific toys touching her favorite toys or objects. It's very interesting, and I'm curious to see if she becomes more laid back about this or more intense as she gets older. My Sweet Baby
Once again, I am blown away by how much love I have for this sweet little girl. She is truly the light of my life and I am the luckiest mother in the world to have her. I have been perpetually exhausted for 19 months now, and have had a messy house, messy car, and messy hair for 19 months now, but these have been the most special and happiest 19 months of my life, because I have her.
